The COVID pandemic exacerbated problems that had been simmering within the education career across the UK. Already facing significant challenges with resources and workload, headteachers are actually navigating the longer-term disruptions attributable to COVID, with lasting ramifications for the career, in addition to schools and students.
Our latest study found low wellbeing, depressive symptoms, high work-related stress and physical and mental exhaustion were common amongst headteachers throughout the height of the pandemic.
Even before the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020, teachers and headteachers had raised concerns about workload, wellbeing, recruitment and retention throughout the career. In the preceding years, experts discussed the potential crisis in educational leadership consequently of the ever-changing demands on headteachers.
COVID has been described as probably the most significant disruption within the history of formal education by Unesco. Its data shows that greater than 1.6 billion pupils and 100 million teachers globally were affected.
Headteachers needed to design, implement and manage latest roles and responsibilities on a scale never before seen. These decisions affected their lives, in addition to the lives of their colleagues, students, families and communities.
Researchers initially responded by studying the consequences on children and teachers, including in early-years settings, in addition to across other education sectors reminiscent of higher education. But examining how school headteachers handled the consequences of COVID by way of wellbeing and work-related stress was neglected.
To address this research gap, we surveyed greater than 320 headteachers in Wales and Northern Ireland. Our work was a part of a wider international study conducted in 17 countries. Our aim was to research how COVID had affected headteachers and to explore whether men and girls experienced the situation otherwise.
What we found
Our ends in Wales and Northern Ireland were stark. Most headteachers reported higher workloads than before the pandemic, working a minimum of 50 hours per week. This was coupled with high levels of work-related stress.
Stress and heavy workloads have been a few of the most important aspects driving headteachers out of the career in recent times and this worsened during in the primary two years of the pandemic.
In fact, 63% of headteachers in our study told us they often sacrificed sufficient sleep, and 75% often gave up leisure activities in favour of labor. These are examples of self-endangering behaviour – coping mechanisms which can be obligatory to fulfil working demands but are usually not conducive to health and wellbeing. Female leaders in our study were more prone to report these in response to high workloads.
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Some 65% of headteachers reported low levels of wellbeing, which was lower than reported by the adult population within the UK. And 35% in our study reported depressive symptoms. These issues extend beyond headteachers themselves, as research suggests a link between teacher wellbeing and the health, wellbeing and attainment of pupils.
Increased workload and self-endangering behaviour can result in burnouta psychological syndrome attributable to chronic job stress. Exhaustion is a core symptom of burnout, and almost 90% of heads in our study had high or very high levels of exhaustion.
Again, this was higher in women, who were also more prone to experience physical symptoms reminiscent of headaches or muscle pain. Wider research points to societal gender expectations as a contributing factor, highlighting the pressure of juggling work with domestic responsibilities reminiscent of childcare and looking out after elderly members of the family.
Despite the various work-related challenges experienced by headteachers in our study, meaningfulness – the extent to which their work situation is perceived as worthy of commitment and involvement – was reported as high. Headteachers still valued their role and contribution, suggesting a powerful sense of social responsibility.
This level of social responsibility should be matched by support and investment from policymakers, especially in a “latest normal” for education.
Prioritising wellbeing
The assumption that society would simply bounce back after the pandemic has been short-lived. Most recently, headteachers in Wales and Northern Ireland have resorted to industrial motionciting high workload, below inflation pay awards and chronic school underfunding. This continued pressure is mirrored across the remaining of the UK.
Our study’s findings add to the growing body of evidence on the pressures faced by headteachers, which have been amplified by the pandemic and the continuing challenges in education. This features a decade of budget cutsdeclining Pisa results (which ranks participating countries in keeping with students’ performance in maths, reading and science) and persisting educational inequality.
Read more:
Wales’s Pisa school test results have declined – nevertheless it’s not a real reflection of an education system
Beyond the immediate pressures of managing schools throughout the first two years of COVID, headteachers also shoulder the responsibility of implementing systemic changes. Major educational reforms are either underway or have recently been accomplished in all 4 UK nations.
The wellbeing and dealing conditions of headteachers is key if we wish to create the conditions for kids and young people to have the perfect begin to their lives and thrive in society. We must learn the teachings from the pandemic and put support in place to enhance the working conditions of headteachers and senior school leaders more generally. After all, the fate of current and future generations is of their hands.